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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46209057/
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Iran vows to stop "some" oil sales as inspectors visit (Reuters)
TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union.
The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be "professional" or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.
Lawmakers have raised the possibility of turning the tables on the EU which will implement its own embargo on Iranian oil by July as it tightens sanctions on Tehran over the nuclear program.
But India, the world's fourth-largest oil consumer, said it would not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will try to advance efforts to resolve a row about the nuclear work which Iran says is purely civilian but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.
Tension with the West rose this month when Washington and the EU imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest Oil exporter to sell its crude.
In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries.
Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.
"Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.
India, a major customer for Iranian crude, made clear it would not join the wider international efforts to put pressure on Tehran by cutting oil purchases.
"It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economies, Iran is an important country amongst them," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on a visit to the Unites States.
The United States wants buyers in Asia, Iran's biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran.
DISCUSSION POSTPONED
Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.
But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.
"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr news agency.
Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country. "Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe," Oil Minister Qasemi said.
Another lawmaker said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran's oil supplies to the EU for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG
Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped Iran would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."
Mehr quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit."
"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."
Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.
"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.
"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."
Iran's parliament has approved bills in the past to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.
The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.
The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.
Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.
Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.
(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/wl_nm/us_iran
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Indy battens down hatches for Super Bowl security (AP)
INDIANAPOLIS ? From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat the first Super Bowl in downtown Indianapolis might bring.
Some ? nuclear terrorism, for instance ? are likely to remain just hypothetical. But others, like thieves and wayward manhole covers, are all too real.
Though Indianapolis has ample experience hosting large sporting events ? the Indianapolis 500 attracts more than 200,000 fans each year, and the NCAA's men's Final Four basketball tournament has been held here six times since 1980_ the city's first Super Bowl poses some unique challenges.
Unlike the Final Four, which is compressed into a weekend, the Super Bowl offers crowd, travel and other logistical challenges over 10 days leading up to the Feb. 5 game. And unlike the 500, where events are largely concentrated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about seven miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, the NFL's showcase event will consume 44 blocks ? about a mile square ? in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more NFL fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week.
"This is clearly bigger in terms of the amount of people who will be downtown over an extended period of time," city Public Safety Director Frank Straub said.
Under a security risk rating system used by the federal government, the Super Bowl ranks just below national security events involving the president and the Secret Service, said Indianapolis Chief of Homeland Security Gary Coons. The ratings are based on factors including international attention, media coverage, number of people the event attracts and visits by celebrities and foreign dignitaries, he said. The Indianapolis 500 ranks two levels below the Super Bowl.
The city has invested millions of dollars and worked with local, state and federal agencies to try to keep all those people safe. Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city's east side or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, Straub said. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.
One concern has been a series of explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light's underground network of utility cables. A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying.
Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors walking on streets and soaring above the Super Bowl village on four zip lines installed for the festivities.
Since December, IPL has spent about $180,000 to install 150 new locking manhole covers, primarily in the Super Bowl village and other areas expected to see high pre-game traffic.
IPL officials say the new Swiveloc manhole covers can be locked for security reasons during the Super Bowl. In case of an explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground ? enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger ? before falling back into place.
An Atlanta consultant hired by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission last summer to audit IPL's underground network of cables for a cause of the explosions says the new covers are merely a Band-Aid.
"We've argued it's better to prevent," said Dan O'Neill of O'Neill Management Consulting, which filed its report in December.
O'Neill's team couldn't pinpoint an exact cause for the explosions but said a flawed inspection process contributed, noting that IPL workers missed warning signs such as road salt corroding an old cable or leaks in nearby steam pipes. In a report filed Jan. 19 with Indiana utility regulators, the power company said it had overhauled its inspection process.
IPL will dispatch extra crews to the area around the stadium in case of power-related problems, such as a recent breaker fire that left 10,000 customers in homes south of downtown without power. Spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the company doesn't anticipate any power issues.
Straub, the public safety director, said he's confident the city is prepared and notes that Indianapolis hosts major events "pretty regularly."
Special teams from the Department of Energy will sweep Lucas Oil Stadium and the surrounding area for nuclear terror threats, and a new $18 million high-tech communications center that opened in time for the lead-up to the game will tie it all together.
"We're using more technology, and state of the art technology, than has been used in any Super Bowl before this one," Straub said.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Juventus looking to extend unbeaten Serie A season
Associated Press Sports
updated 8:23 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2012
MILAN (AP) -Serie A leader Juventus will look to extend its unbeaten league run to 21 games this season at Parma on Tuesday and move four points provisionally clear at the top of the standings.
Juventus is the only club still unbeaten in Serie A, with every other team having lost at least three games.
"We're performing beyond the most rose-colored predictions," defender Giorgio Chiellini said. "We were convinced we could have a very good season but we were also coming off the back of two difficult years and in summer, although we didn't start building again from zero, we changed a lot.
"We've been good in immediately finding a balance and a style of play and now we're continuing to grow. It's a process that has not stopped yet and it has to continue if we want to achieve a dream."
Parma is unlikely to pose Juventus much of a challenge, having won just once in its past 10 games.
Juventus gave another solid performance on Saturday by beating third-place Udinese 2-1 to remain a point clear of second-place AC Milan, which faces Lazio on Wednesday in a rematch of last week's Italian Cup clash. Milan won that match 3-1.
Tuesday will also be significant in that the transfer window closes at 7 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) and Juve has not ruled out strengthening its squad still further.
"If tomorrow we sense the possibility of improving the squad, we will do so," general director Giuseppe Marotta said on Sunday. "We shouldn't hide, the numbers are on our side. We're unbeaten and we have to act out the role of protagonists. We will fight until the end so that we can give everyone a glorious finish."
Milan is likely to chase Juventus all the way and the current Serie A champion is still clinging close after a comfortable 3-0 win against Cagliari as the bid for the title swiftly looks like developing into a two-horse race.
"The table's stretched out a bit now," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "It was important to win to remain in Juventus' wake and to create a gap between third and fourth after the weekend's results."
Allegri is also unconcerned that midfielder Alexander Merkel will be out for at least two months with a knee injury.
"I'm sad to have lost Merkel for two months," he said. "However, it's not a worry for me because Emanuelson played very well. This lad has grown a lot in the last few games, also because he has played in a run of games."
Maxi Lopez could make his debut after the new signing was on the bench for Milan at the weekend.
Lazio will present a tougher challenge than Cagliari. It beat Chievo Verona at the weekend to leapfrog above Inter Milan and into fourth place in the standings. Any slip up from Udinese, which faces rapidly-improving Lecce, could see Lazio move into third in the table.
Inter is a point behind Lazio after a surprise loss to Lecce at the weekend which snapped the Nerazzurri's seven-match winning streak in the league.
Claudio Ranieri's team hosts Palermo, which has picked up just three points on its travels all season.
Elsewhere, it's: Atalanta vs. Genoa; Bologna vs. Fiorentina; Cagliari vs. Roma; Napoli vs. Cesena; and Siena vs. Catania. On Thursday rock-bottom Novara faces Chievo.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Roundup: Arsenal kept its bid to end a seven-year trophy drought on track Sunday.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44225939/ns/sports-soccer/
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London Olympic travel plan: Be patient, drink beer (AP)
LONDON ? Olympic organizers have some travel advice for the millions of people who work and live in London: Be patient. Have a beer. Work from home.
Rejecting suggestions of possible transport chaos during the July 27-Aug. 12 games, they unveiled a 8.8 million-pound ($13.3 million) campaign Monday to persuade city residents to change their travel patterns to ease the strain on public transport.
Even as London Mayor Boris Johnson tried to focus attention on the positive, transport officials had to bat back demands by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union for more money. Union officials say subway staff are not being offered enough to compensate them for working more hours and erratic schedules during the Summer Olympics.
The fresh union demands came just moments before London transport officials unveiled posters, signs and banners to make travelers aware of how to handle transport issues during the games. Johnson directed his remarks at what he called "Olympo-skeptics."
"They predict that tumbleweed will be going down Shaftesbury Avenue," Johnson said, referring to a main London thoroughfare. "They are completely wrong and mistaken and missing a huge opportunity to profit."
London transport officials have been at pains in recent weeks to downplay concerns about whether the city's aging transportation system can handle the extra traffic from tourists, spectators and others expected to use the network.
Officials point to a 6.5 billion-pound ($10.2 billion) investment in the transport system. They say train journeys are faster and note that many more trains will run ? and that some will even have air conditioning ? during the games.
If office workers do things as simple as stopping and have a beer on their way home, it will spread out the rush-hour demands, they assert. No recommendations ? alcoholic or otherwise ? were made for the morning commute.
Businesses have been asked to consider whether London workers could telecommute or have more flexible working hours.
The trouble is that even on regular days London struggles with constraints on the Tube, an aging system that handles 12 million trips a day. The Olympics is estimated to add 3 million trips on busy days. Keeping the system running smoothly is predicated on the notion that locals will rearrange their schedules, change travel patterns and adjust their lives to accommodate.
Even Johnson acknowledged that travelers on the Jubilee line ? one of the key arteries for the games ? would not be "short of company."
London wants all of its spectators to arrive by public transport ? or foot and bike. Ticket holders to Olympic events will receive day passes for the subway as part of their package. A special train known as the "Javelin" will take spectators directly from central London's St. Pancras train station to the Olympic Park in the East London neighborhood of Stratford.
The "Get Ahead of the Games" campaign that kicked off Monday marks the biggest effort yet to directly reach the public. Featuring cartoonlike posters and directional signs in hot pink and maroon, the campaign tries to let people know about upcoming disruptions and gives suggestions on how to address them.
The campaign, funded as part of the 9.3 billion pounds ($14.6 billion) devoted to staging the Olympics, will run in national newspapers, rail stations and radio stations across the country as well as around Olympic venues.
Souring the big launch was the rail union's announcement that subway train drivers considered a one-time payment of around 500 pounds ($784) inadequate.
"All we are calling for is a fair deal for all the staff involved in delivering the colossal transport challenge that we will be facing this summer and the negotiations to achieve that are ongoing," Union chief Bob Crow said in a statement.
Crow said the union was ready for more talks. Peter Hendy, the Transport for London commissioner, called the union announcement "a tactic," and maintained that everyone at the transit agency is proud of helping out at the games.
Hendy refused to say how much he was prepared to pay to compensate the transport workers, but the pressure comes at a time when Olympic organizers are straining to stay within budget.
The National Audit Office, Britain's spending watchdog, has reported that only 500 million pounds ($785 million) remains unspent for dealing with future Olympics-related costs.
Hendy insisted the money to cover compensation for transport workers would be available once a deal was struck.
__
http://www.getaheadofthegames.com or following the (at)GAOTG Twitter
___
Danica Kirka can be reached at http://twitter.com/DanicaKirka
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300 arrested in daylong Occupy Oakland protests
Occupy Oakland protestors burn an American flag found inside Oakland City Hall during an Occupy Oakland protest on the steps of City Hall, Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)
Occupy Oakland protestors burn an American flag found inside Oakland City Hall during an Occupy Oakland protest on the steps of City Hall, Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)
A woman pleads with Occupy Oakland protestors to not burn an American flag found inside Oakland City Hall during an Occupy Oakland protest, Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. Police were in the process of arresting about 100 Occupy protesters for failing to disperse Saturday night, hours after officers used tear gas on a rowdy group of demonstrators who threw rocks and flares at them and tore down fences. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)
Oakland Police block the entrance to City Hall after Occupy Oakland protestors gained access into the building during an Occupy Oakland protest, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland officials say police are in the process of arresting about 100 Occupy protesters for failing to disperse on Saturday. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)
Oakland police block off a street in downtown Oakland during an Occupy Oakland protest, Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. Police were in the process of arresting about 100 Occupy protesters for failing to disperse Saturday night, hours after officers used tear gas on a rowdy group of demonstrators who threw rocks and flares at them and tore down fences. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)
An Oakland City police officer stomps out a burning American flag after Occupy Oakland protestors set City Hall's flag on fire during an Occupy Oakland protest, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? About 300 people were arrested Saturday during a chaotic day of Occupy protests that saw demonstrators break into City Hall and burn an American flag, as police earlier fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of people after some threw rocks and bottles and tore down fencing outside a nearby convention center.
Dozens of police officers stood guard outside City Hall late Saturday following the most turbulent day of protests since November, when Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment. An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called on the Occupy movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."
"People in the community and people in the Occupy movement have to stop making excuses for this behavior," Quan said.
Protesters clashed with police throughout the day, at times throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers. And police responded by deploying smoke, tear gas and bean bag rounds, City Adminstrator Deanna Santanta said.
"These demonstrators stated their intention was to provoke officers and engage in illegal activity and that's exactly what has occurred today," Santana said.
The group assembled outside City Hall late Saturday morning and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.
The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.
Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.
The number of demonstrators swelled as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.
A majority of the arrests came after police took scores of protesters into custody as they marched through the city's downtown, with some entering a YMCA building, said Sgt. Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman.
Around the same time police were taking people into custody near the YMCA, about dozens of officers surrounded City Hall, while others swept the inside of the building looking for protesters who had broken into the building, then ran out of the building with American flags before officers arrived.
Quan said the destruction was being caused by a small "very radical, violent" splinter group within Occupy Oakland.
"This is not a situation where we had a 1,000 peaceful people and a few violent people. If you look at what's happening today in terms of destructing property, throwing at and charging the police, it's almost like they are begging for attention and hoping that the police will make an error."
Quan said that at one point, many forced their way into City Hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several art structures, including a recycled art exhibit created by children.
"City Hall is closed for the weekend. There is no excuse for behavior we've witnessed this evening," City Council President Larry Reid said during a news briefing Saturday. "It's just unacceptable and makes absolutely no sense for the type of behavior we've seen on the streets in the city of Oakland today."
Oakland Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, echoed Reid's sentiments and said that what was going on amounts to "domestic terrorism."
"This is domestic terrorism and we cannot allow this to continue because something even more worse could really happen," De La Fuente said.
The demonstration comes after Occupy protesters said earlier this week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub. They also threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.
Oakland officials said Friday that since the Occupy Oakland encampment was first established in late October, police have arrested about 300 people.
The national Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate excess and economic inequality, began in New York City in the fall but has been largely dormant lately.
Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities with the largest and most vocal Occupy protests early on. The demonstrations ebbed after those cities used force to move out hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.
In Oakland, the police department received heavy criticism for using force to break up earlier protests. Among the critics was Mayor Jean Quan, who said she wasn't briefed on the department's plans.
On Saturday, Quan seemed to have changed her tune on how police have been handling the demonstrations and protests.
"Our officers have been very measured," Quan said. "Were there some mistakes made? There may be. I would say the Oakland police and our allies, so far a small percentage of mistakes. "But quite frankly, a majority of protesters who were charging the police were clearly not being peaceful.
Earlier this month, a court-appointed monitor submitted a report to a federal judge that included "serious concerns" about the department's handling of the Occupy protests.
Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said late Saturday that he was in "close contact" with the federal monitor during the protests.
Quan added, "If the demonstrators think that because we are working more closely with the monitor now that we won't do what we have to do to uphold the law and try keep people safe in this city, they're wrong."
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Arab League halts observer mission in Syria (AP)
BEIRUT ? The deputy chief of the Arab League says the pan-Arab body has halted its observer mission in Syria because of the increasing violence there.
Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Heli says the around 100 observers still in Syria have stopped their work after a decision by member states because of the sharp spike of bloodshed in recent days. He says the observers are staying in their Damascus hotel until further notice.
At least 80 people have been killed in the past three days in Syria. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and the prime minister of Qatar are heading to New York on Saturday to seek U.N. support for an arab plan to end Syria's crisis.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe (AP)
LONDON ? British police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers Saturday after arresting a police officer and four current and former staff of his tabloid The Sun as part of an investigation into police bribery by journalists.
The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing ? which has already caused the closure of one tabloid, the News of the World ? to a second Murdoch newspaper.
London's Metropolitan Police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.
Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees.
A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.
The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.
Officers were searching the men's homes and the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence.
Police said Saturday's arrests were made as a result of information provided by the Management and Standards Committee of Murdoch's News Corp.
News Corp. said it was cooperating with police.
"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement.
A dozen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged.
They include former Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International, ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson ? who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief ? and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.
Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.
Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old tabloid, and the scandal has triggered a continuing public inquiry into media ethics and the relationship between the press, police and politicians.
An earlier police investigation failed to find evidence hacking went beyond one reporter and a private investigator, but News Corp. has now acknowledged it was much more widespread.
Last week the company agreed to pay damages to 37 hacking victims, including actor Jude Law, soccer star Ashley Cole and British politician John Prescott.
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IMF leads global push for euro zone to boost firewall (Reuters)
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) ? International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde led a global push on Saturday for the euro zone to boost its financial firewall, saying "if it is big enough it will not get used."
Lagarde, supported by the British finance minister, George Osborne, said the IMF could boost its support for the euro zone but pressed its leaders to act first. Some attendees at the Davos Forum still doubted the viability of the currency union.
Countries beyond the 17-country bloc want to see its members stump up more money before they commit additional resources to the IMF, which this month requested an additional 500 billion euros ($650 billion) in funding.
"Now is the time - there has been a lot of pressure building in order to see a solution come about," Lagarde told a Forum panel discussion on the economic outlook from which euro zone leaders - most notably Germany - were conspicuously absent.
"It is critical that the euro zone members develop a clear, simple firewall that can operate both to limit the contagion and to provide this sort of act of trust in the euro zone, so that the financing needs of that zone can actually be met," she said.
Lagarde's comments rounded out a crescendo of calls at the Davos Forum for the euro zone to boost its financial defenses. The annual five-day conference began with German Chancellor Angela Merkel deflecting pressure to do so.
In a carefully worded keynote address, Merkel suggested doubling or even tripling the size of the fund may convince markets for a time, but warned that if Germany made a promise that could not be kept, "then Europe is really vulnerable."
On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Europe to make a "bigger commitment" to boosting its firewall.
Two bankers who attended meetings with Geithner at the Forum said on Friday the United States was looking for the euro zone to roughly double the size of its firewall to 1.5 trillion euros. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Treasury.
Osborne said the currency bloc must beef up its firewall before other countries increase their funding to the IMF.
"I think the euro zone leaders understand that," said Osborne, the only European minister on Saturday's panel discussion on the global economic outlook in 2012.
"There are not going to be further contributions from G20 countries, Britain included, unless we see the color of their money," he added, calling for the euro zone "to provide a significant increase in available resources."
MORE OPTIMISM...FOR SOME
Japanese Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa echoed Osborne's comments, saying: "Without the firm action of Europe, I don't think the developing countries like China or others are willing to pay more money for the IMF."
On condition that the euro zone boosts its own defenses, he said Japan and other countries were willing to additional support via the IMF.
Lagarde said, however, that if the international lender's resources were boosted sufficiently, this would raise confidence to such a degree that they would not be needed.
"If it is big enough, it will not get used. And the same applies to the euro firewall for that matter," she added.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, speaking to the Forum by video link from Tokyo, said Japan was working with South Korea and India to reduce the risk of the euro zone crisis spreading to Asia.
"Japan stands ready to support the euro zone as much as possible," he added.
Mexico's central bank chief, Agustin Carstens, said on Friday he believed a consensus was building on boosting the IMF's resources to help European countries and others that might need aid from the global lender.
There has been a palpable sense of hope at the Davos Forum that the euro zone is pulling back from the brink of catastrophe, though business leaders are equally worried that Europe's woes will hold back a global recovery.
Osborne saw some signs of optimism.
"People have commented on the mood of this conference being quite somber but having been here for a couple of days people have also pointed out that actually people are slightly more optimistic at the end of the week than the beginning," he said.
However, Davos 2011 also ended on upbeat note about the euro zone and a feeling that worst of the crisis was over - only for the situation to deteriorate and financial markets to turn their fire on Italy, the bloc's third biggest economy.
"The euro zone is a slow-motion train wreck," said economist Nouriel Roubini, made famous by predictions of the 2008-09 global banking crisis.
He expected Greece, and possibly Portugal, to exit the bloc within the next 12 months and believed there is a 50 percent chance of the bloc breaking up completely in the next 3-5 years.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, said no matter how strong the euro zone's firewall is, the market will look at the nature of the economies it is protecting.
"If it is protecting insolvent economies...no matter how strong the firewall is, it won't survive," he said.
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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SAG Awards menu is months in the making
In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, a proposed plate of slow-roasted salmon, roasted root vegetables, and lamb is seen during the SAG Awards tasting and table decor preview at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, a proposed plate of slow-roasted salmon, roasted root vegetables, and lamb is seen during the SAG Awards tasting and table decor preview at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, SAG Awards producer Kathy Connell, left, and SAG Awards supervising producer Mick McCullough participate in the SAG Awards tasting and table decor preview at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, a plate of chopped chicken salad with apples, radicchio, walnuts and whole grain mustard sits on display during the SAG Awards tasting and table decor preview at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, from left, SAG Awards Committee Chair JoBeth Williams, SAG Awards Committee member Paul Napier, chef Suzanne Goin, of Lucques Catering, and SAG Awards event designer Keith Greco take part during the SAG Awards tasting and table decor preview at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, a plate with grilled chicken breast with black rice, pea shoots and tangerine vinaigrette displays during the SAG Awards tasting and table decor preview at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? When your dinner party guests include Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kate Winslet and Glenn Close, and the whole affair is televised live, it can take months to plan the menu. That's why the team behind the Screen Actors Guild Awards began putting together the plate for Sunday's ceremony months ago.
It was still summer when show producer Kathy Connell and executive producer and director Jeff Margolis first sat down with chef Suzanne Goin of Los Angeles eatery Lucques with a tall order: Create a meal that is delicious at room temperature, looks beautiful on TV, is easy to eat and appeals to Hollywood tastes. Oh, and no poppy seeds, soups, spicy dishes, or piles of onions or garlic.
"It can't drip, stick in their teeth or be too heavy," Connell said. "We have to appease all palates."
The chef put together a plate of possibilities: slow-roasted salmon with yellow beets, lamb with couscous and spiced cauliflower and roasted root vegetables with quinoa. There was also a chopped chicken salad and another chicken dish with black beans.
To ensure the dishes are both tasty and TV-ready, Connell and Margolis, along with the SAG Awards Committee and the show's florist and art director, dined together at this summertime lunch on tables set to replicate those that will be in the Shrine Exposition Center during the ceremony. The pewter, crushed-silk tablecloths and white lilies you'll see on TV Sunday were also chosen months ago.
The diners discussed the look of the plate, the size of the portions and the vegetarian possibilities.
"We'd like the portions a little larger," Connell told the chef.
"And a little more sauce on the salmon," Margolis added.
Come Sunday, it's up to Goin to prepare 1,200 of the long-planned meals for the A-list audience.
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Poll ruling sparks street clashes in Senegal (Reuters)
DAKAR (Reuters) ? Protesters hurled rocks at police who retaliated with tear gas in Senegal's capital Dakar on Friday after a top legal body said President Abdoulaye Wade had the right to run for a third term in elections next month.
Reuters reporters saw youths set fire to tires in the street and overturn cars after a late-night ruling of the West African country's Constitutional Council.
Rivals to 85-year-old Wade say the constitution sets an upper limit of two terms on the president. Wade, who came to power in 2000 and was re-elected in 2007, has argued his first term pre-dated the 2001 amendment establishing the limit.
"Stop these displays of petulance which will lead to nothing," Wade, 85, told state television in an appeal for calm.
"The electoral campaign will be open. There will be no restrictions on freedom," said Wade, who faces 13 rivals in the February 26 election.
The Council validated 13 other candidates but rejected the presidential bid of world music star Youssou N'Dour, determining he had not gathered the necessary 10,000 valid signatures backing his candidacy.
It said authorities had been unable to identify around 4,000 of some 12,000 signatures gathered by N'Dour.
"The decision of the Constitutional Council has nothing to do with the law," said N'Dour campaign manager Alioune N'Diaye.
"It is purely political. Youssou N'Dour was a problem and they wanted to be shot of him," he told Reuters, adding that N'Dour planned an appeal.
All of the five judges on the Council are by law appointed by the president.
THREAT TO PEACE
The centrist Wade will face rivals including Socialist Party leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng and three ex-prime ministers - Idrissa Seck, Macky Sall and Moustapha Niasse.
Senegal is the only country in mainland West Africa to have not had a coup since the end of the colonial era. February's poll, and a possible run-off a few weeks later, are seen as major test of social peace in the predominantly Muslim country.
"We are here to protest against Wade," Yero Toure, a 26-year-old student at an opposition rally of a couple of thousand people in central Dakar. "If they don't reject him the people will rise up against him."
Critics say that Wade, who spent 26 years in opposition to Socialist rule, has done nothing during his 12 years in power to alleviate poverty in a country where formal employment is scarce, while dragging his heels on tackling official graft.
Wade points to increased spending on education and infrastructure projects such as roadbuilding as proof of his aim of turning Senegal into an emerging market country and a regional trade hub.
His candidacy has been controversial from the start, with rivals suspecting him of seeking to secure a new seven-year mandate only to hand over mid-term to his financier son Karim - who already has a "superministry" in the government. Both father and son have denied such a plan.
Wade backed down last June on planned changes to election rules after clashes between security forces and protesters who alleged the reforms were an attempt to ensure his victory.
His candidacy has raised eyebrows abroad. The senior U.S. State Department official for Africa, William Fitzgerald, told French RFI radio this month Washington viewed it as "a bit regrettable".
"From our point of view it was the right moment to go into retirement, to protect and support a good transition - democratically, peacefully, safely," Fitzgerald said.
(Writing and additional reporting by Mark John Editing by Maria Golovnina and Angus MacSwan)
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Utah teens arrested in alleged school bombing plot (AP)
SALT LAKE CITY ? A Utah high school student bragged to police that he was smarter than the Columbine killers and was plotting with an older student to set off a bomb during a school assembly and escape in a stolen plane, court documents say.
Dallin Morgan, 18, and the 16-year-old boy were pulled out of school Wednesday and arrested after authorities learned of the plot, Roy police spokeswoman Anna Bond said Thursday.
The students prepared by logging hundreds of hours on flight simulator software on their home computers, and they planned to take a plane at Ogden Hinckley Airport after the bombing, Bond said.
The juvenile hinted at the plan in text messages to a friend, writing that both suspects wanted "revenge on the world" and "we have a plan to get away with it too."
He hinted at the plan by writing "explosives, airport, airplane" and added, "We're just gonna kill and fly our way to a country that won't send us back to the US," according to a probable cause statement police filed to make the arrests late Wednesday.
The Associated Press isn't naming the 16-year-old because he is a minor.
The juvenile told investigators he was so "fascinated" by the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that he visited the Littleton, Colo., school and interviewed the principal about the shootings that killed 13 people. Roy police said the principal, Frank DeAngelis, confirmed that the boy made his visit Dec. 12.
Morgan was being held on $10,000 bail at Weber County jail on suspicion of conspiracy to commit mass destruction. The juvenile was in custody at Weber Valley Detention Center on the same charge. Prosecutors were weighing possible additional charges.
Both students had "absolute knowledge of the security systems and the layout of the school," Bond said. "They knew where the security cameras were. Their original plan was to set off explosives during an assembly. We don't know what date they were planning to do this, but they had been planning it for months."
School officials said there were no imminent plans to hold a school assembly.
Local and federal agents searched the school, two vehicles belonging to the suspects and their homes but found no explosives. The FBI is examining the suspects' computers, police said.
The parents of both students "woke up in the middle of a nightmare," Bond said. "They've been very cooperative."
The other Roy High School student who received text messages tipped authorities to the plot Wednesday, said the school's safety specialist, Nate Taggart.
The student "came forward and had some suspicions but not a lot of information ? enough that it gave administration the ability to make some connections and identify the students involved," Taggart said.
The school has about 1,500 students.
___
Associated Press writer Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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Obama to senators: Change the way you do business (AP)
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is pressing his case for changes in how the Senate does business, hoping to ease the partisan gridlock, and he wants to bar lawmakers from profiting from their service.
In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he met during his five-state tour after his State of the Union address were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."
"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.
The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.
Obama noted that "a senator from Utah" said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of the head of the new consumer protection agency and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. Obama put the officials in their post during the Senate's holiday break; many Republicans have called that move unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."
"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.
While Obama did not name the lawmaker, Utah GOP. Sen Mike Lee said Thursday that because of the president's "blatant and egregious disregard both for proper constitutional procedures and the Senate's unquestioned role in such appointments, I find myself duty-bound to resist the consideration and approval of additional nominations until the president takes steps to remedy the situation."
Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.
In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."
"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because you feel the failure of his leadership every single day of your life."
Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.
The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work toward a new and prosperous American century."
___
Online:
Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov
GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress
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Need for courtroom artists fade as cameras move in
This Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, photo, shows courtroom sketch artist Carol Renaud in her Chicago home studio. Artists have drawing legal proceedings since the Salem witch trials to the recent corruption trial of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their ranks are thinning as states lift courtroom camera ban. Just 14 states still have prohibitions in place, amd three of those states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Illinois, recently moved to end theirs. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
This Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, photo, shows courtroom sketch artist Carol Renaud in her Chicago home studio. Artists have drawing legal proceedings since the Salem witch trials to the recent corruption trial of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their ranks are thinning as states lift courtroom camera ban. Just 14 states still have prohibitions in place, amd three of those states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Illinois, recently moved to end theirs. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
This 2009 sketch of Bolingbrook police officer Drew Peterson by courtroom artist Carol Renaud is seen at her Chicago home on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Artists have drawing legal proceedings since the Salem witch trials to the recent corruption trial of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their ranks are thinning as states lift courtroom camera ban. Just 14 states still have prohibitions in place, and three of those states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Illinois, recently moved to end theirs. (AP Photo/Carol Renaud)
This Dec. 7, 2011 file courtroom sketch by artist Tom Gianni shows former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, left, speaking before U.S. District Judge James Zagel at his sentencing hearing at federal court in Chicago. Sketch artists have been drawing legal proceedings since the Salem witch trials to the recent corruption trial of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their ranks are thinning as states lift courtroom camera ban. Just 14 states still have prohibitions in place, and three of those states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Illinois, recently moved to end theirs. (AP Photo/Tom Gianni, File)
FILE - In this May 14, 2008 file photo, courtroom sketch artist Andy Austin poses at Chicago's Federal Plaza with one of her works from the corruption trial of Conrad Black. Austin has worked as a court artist for 40 years. Artists have been drawing legal proceedings since the Salem witch trials to the recent corruption trial of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their ranks are thinning as states lift courtroom camera bans. Just 14 states still have the prohibitions in place, though three of those states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Illinois, recently moved to end theirs.(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
This May 20, 2008 file courtroom sketch by artist Lou Chukman shows R&B singer R. Kelly, right, watching in court as prosecutors played the sex tape at the center of his child pornography trial in open court in Chicago. Artists have drawing legal proceedings since the Salem witch trials to the recent corruption trial of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their ranks are thinning as states lift courtroom camera bans. Just 14 states still have prohibitions in place, and three of those states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Illinois, recently moved to end theirs. (AP Photo/Lou Chukman, File)
CHICAGO (AP) ? One marker in hand and one in his mouth, Lou Chukman glances up and down from a sketchpad to a reputed Chicago mobster across the courtroom ? drawing feverishly to capture the drama of the judge's verdict before the moment passes.
Sketch artists have been the public's eyes at high-profile trials for decades ? a remnant of an age when drawings in broadsheet papers, school books or travel chronicles were how people glimpsed the world beyond their own.
Today, their ranks are thinning swiftly as states move to lift longstanding bans on cameras in courtrooms. As of a year ago, 14 states still had them ? but at least three, including Illinois this month, have taken steps since then to end the prohibitions.
"When people say to me, 'Wow, you are a courtroom artist' ? I always say, 'One day, you can tell your grandchildren you met a Stegosaurus," Chukman, 56, explained outside court. "We're an anachronism now, like blacksmiths."
Cutbacks in news budgets and shifts in aesthetic sensibilities toward digitized graphics have all contributed to the form's decline, said Maryland-based sketch artist Art Lien.
While the erosion of the job may not be much noticed by people reading and watching the news, Lien says something significant is being lost. Video or photos can't do what sketch artists can, he said, such as compressing hours of court action onto a single drawing that crystallizes the events.
The best courtroom drawings hang in museums or sell to collectors for thousands of dollars.
"I think people should lament the passing of this art form," Lien said.
But while courtroom drawing has a long history ? artists did illustrations of the Salem witch trials in 1692 ? the artistry can sometimes be sketchy. A bald lawyer ends up with a full head of hair. A defendant has two left hands. A portly judge is drawn rail-thin.
Subjects often complain as they see the drawings during court recesses, said Chicago artist Carol Renaud.
"They'll say, 'Hey! My nose is too big.' And sometimes they're right," she conceded. "We do the drawings so fast."
Courtroom drawing doesn't attract most aspiring artists because it doesn't afford the luxury of laboring over a work for days until it's just right, said Andy Austin, who has drawn Chicago's biggest trials over 40 years, including that of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
"You have to put your work on the air or in a newspaper whether you like it or not," she said.
The job also involves long stretches of tedium punctuated by bursts of action as a witness sobs or defendant faint. It can also get downright creepy.
At Gacy's trial, a client asked Austin for an image of him smiling. So, she sought to catch the eye of the man accused of killing 33 people. When she finally did, she beamed. He beamed back.
"The two of us smiled at each other like the two happiest people in the world until the sketch was finished," Austin recalled in her memoirs, titled "Rule 53," after the directive that bars cameras in U.S. courts.
There's no school specifically for courtroom artists. Many slipped or were nudged into it by circumstance.
Renaud drew fashion illustrations for Marshall Field's commercials into the '90s but lost that job when the department store starting relying on photographers. That led her to courtroom drawing.
Artists sometime get to court early and sketch the empty room. But coming in with a drawing fully finished in advance is seen as unethical.
Some artists use charcoal, water colors or pungent markers, which can leave those sitting nearby queasy. Most start with a quick pencil sketch, then fill it in. Austin draws right off the bat with her color pencils.
"If I overthink it, I get lost," she said. "I have a visceral reaction. I just hope what I feel is conveyed to my pen."
These days, Chukman and Renaud fear for their livelihoods. They make the bulk of their annual income off their court work. Working for a TV station or a newspaper can bring in about $300 a day. A trial lasting a month can mean a $6,000 paycheck. Chukman does other work on the side, including drawing caricatures as gifts.
Austin is semiretired and so she says she worries less. She also notes that federal courts ? where some of the most notorious trials take place, like the two corruption trials of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich ? seem more adamant about not allowing cameras.
Still, though Rule 53 remains in place, federal courts are experimenting with cameras in very limited cases.
"If federal courts do follow, that will be the end of us," Austin said.
Renaud holds out hope that, even if the worst happens, there will still be demand from lawyers for courtroom drawings they can hang in their offices. Lien plans to bolster his income by launching a website selling work from historic trials he covered, including of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Chukman, a courtroom artist for around 30 years, jokes that if asked for his opinion, he'd have told state-court authorities to keep the ban in place a few more years until he retires.
"I recognize my profession exists simply because of gaps in the law ? and I've been grateful for them," he said wistfully. "This line of work has been good to me."
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Report: Electronic health records still need work
WASHINGTON (AP) ? America may be a technology-driven nation, but the health care system's conversion from paper to computerized records needs lots of work to get the bugs out, according to experts who spent months studying the issue.
Hospitals and doctors' offices increasingly are going digital, the Bipartisan Policy Center says in a report released Friday. But there's been little progress getting the computer systems to talk to one another, exchanging data the way financial companies do.
"The level of health information exchange in the U.S. is extremely low," the report says.
At the consumer level, few people maintain a personal health record on their laptop or electronic tablet, partly due to concerns about privacy, security and accuracy that the government hasn't resolved.
"How will sensitive health data be kept confidential and secure in digital data-sharing environments?" the report asks. "Many consumers ... are waiting for a reassuring answer to this question."
The report offers a window on progress toward a goal set by President Barack Obama, and President George W. Bush before him, that everyone in the United States should have an electronic medical record by 2014.
While making no predictions, the report offers a collection of details indicating that the goal is a long shot at best.
"Will 100 percent of our nation have electronic health records by 2014?" asked Janet Marchibroda, who directs the center's health technology initiative. "I would say getting to that last mile is difficult." She expects the majority of hospitals and doctors to meet the goal, but it's another matter when it comes to consumers.
In politically polarized Washington, the center tries to tackle national problems from a pragmatic perspective. The report, more than six months in the making, was produced by a panel representing hospitals, doctors, insurers, consumers and technology companies. The review was led by two former senators with ties to the health care industry, Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Republican Bill Frist of Tennessee.
Electronic medical records are seen as a crucial component in creating a system that's more efficient and less prone to error. The government has committed up to $30 billion to encourage this shift, mostly through incentive payments to hospitals and doctors that were authorized in 2009 under Obama's economic stimulus law. Payments started flowing last year.
The report found that 5 percent of eligible doctors received payments last year, while about 33 percent had registered with the government that they intend to qualify.
Overall, about one-third of doctors' offices had some form of electronic records last year, compared with one-fourth in 2010.
Among hospitals, 32 percent received the incentive payments last year, the report said, while 61 percent notified the government they intend to qualify.
Those are signs of momentum, but the report found little progress in devising ways for the different computer systems to communicate with each other.
Part of the problem is that there isn't much financial incentive for competing health care providers to share information.
If an emergency room orders a test on a patient that a family doctor had run a week ago, the hospital gets paid for it. If the emergency room doctor relies on the test results from the family doctor, that's less revenue for the hospital.
"Health information exchange will not occur at optimal levels ... without a viable, sustainable business model," the report said.
Only from 7 percent to 11 percent of individuals have a personal electronic medical record. Some early adopters still run into problems with basic tasks such as downloading test results, renewing prescriptions online or scheduling appointments.
The report also says the government must address gaps in privacy protections. For example, a federal health privacy law that applies to hospitals, doctors, insurers and data transmission companies doesn't apply to companies that market electronic medical records directly to the public.
"This uneven coverage of federal health privacy law can be confusing for consumers and contributes to reluctance," the report said.
____
Online:
Bipartisan Policy Center report: http://tinyurl.com/86vgum3
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Talks on compensating uninjured Italy passengers (AP)
ROME ? Officials from Costa Crociere SpA met with consumer activists Thursday in an attempt to work out what could be a blanket compensation deal for uninjured passengers who were aboard the cruise ship that capsized off Italy's coast.
The deal being discussed would apply to 3,206 people from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the Costa Concordia hit a reef Jan. 13 after the captain made an unauthorized maneuver that brought the enormous ship too close to shore.
The offer would take into consideration the price of the ticket, any costs incurred in getting home after the disaster, the cost of items lost aboard the ship as well as damages for the ruined vacation and trauma resulting from the accident, said Furio Truzzi of the consumer group Assoutenti.
The offer would not apply to the hundreds of crew aboard the ship, the roughly 100 cases of people who were injured or the families who lost loved ones. Sixteen bodies have been recovered since the ship hit a reef carrying 4,200 people, with another 16 people still missing and feared dead.
"We are working for a collective transaction to come up with a value for damages," Truzzi said. "Each passenger can decide if this proposal is satisfactory. If it is not, they are free to react through a lawyer."
Truzzi said it was premature to discuss exact amounts of compensation. He said it would be an average and that any passenger who deemed his or her losses greater than the offer was free to counter the proposal.
"We will not close any doors," he said.
Costa has said it was in the process of reimbursing tickets and immediate expenses. Truzzi said those reimbursements did not preclude any future legal action on the part of those who were shipwrecked.
He said Assoutenti would work separately on a proposal for those who lost loved ones in the disaster and were also open to working with members of the crew if they came forward.
Truzzi said any damages agreed with Costa would be in addition to insurance policies taken out by passengers before embarking. He said 91 percent of the passengers had such policies.
Divers on Thursday were continuing the search for missing crew and passengers, although no one expected to find any more survivors.
Salvage experts were setting up operations so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies in pristine waters off the Tuscan coast that are prime fishing grounds and part of a protected area for dolphins and whales.
Costa is a unit of Miami-based Carnival Corp., the world's biggest cruise operator.
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Fed and Apple restart Wall Street's advance (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Big profits from Apple and a promise from the Federal Reserve to keep rock-bottom rates for at least two more years powered the U.S. stock market higher on Wednesday.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) led the Nasdaq to a 1 percent gain. Shares of the maker of iPhones and iPads surged to a record, making it the most valuable U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. Apple finished up 6.2 percent at $446.66.
Buying picked up after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates near zero through at least 2014, which was longer than many investors anticipated. The actions were taken as a sign of the central bank's commitment to boost a sluggish economic recovery.
"What caught the market off guard was obviously the fact they are going to keep rates lower for longer," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.
"This statement (on an inflation target) moves the ball slightly down the field" for possible more quantitative easing later, Canally said, referring to a type of monetary stimulus.
The Fed also took an historic step of setting an inflation target of 2 percent, which brings the U.S. central bank in line with many of the world's other central banks that use an explicit benchmark for policy.
Apple was a standout in what has otherwise been a fairly lackluster earnings season. So far, 57 percent of companies reporting have beaten forecasts, while at this stage in past earnings seasons, the beat rate averaged 70 percent.
Apple shares hit an all-time high of $454.45 on results issued after Tuesday's market close that sailed past expectations. The move higher pushed Apple's market capitalization above that of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), making it the largest publicly held U.S. company.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 83.10 points, or 0.66 percent, at 12,758.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 11.41 points, or 0.87 percent, at 1,326.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) ended up 31.67 points, or 1.14 percent, at 2,818.31.
In other earnings news, video rental company Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) reported results that outpaced Wall Street's expectations, sending shares up about 13 percent to $107.28 in extended trade.
Earlier in regular trading session, both United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) and Rockwell Automation Inc (ROK.N) shares fell after slightly missing revenue forecasts.
United Tech shares closed down 0.2 percent at $77.65 and Rockwell dropped 2.9 percent to $79.42.
Another diversified manufacturer, Textron Inc (TXT.N), surged 14.6 percent to $24.76 after it raised its 2012 profit forecast. The S&P industrials index (.GSPI) gained 1.2 percent.
Corning Inc (GLW.N) tumbled 10.7 percent to $13.05 as manufacturers cut back on the production of big-screen televisions that use the company's specialty glass.
Greece was hoping to reach a deal with its bondholders as talks were set to resume this week to avoid a messy default. Such an outcome could threaten the stability of other debt-laden members of the euro zone as well as the global economy.
About 7.9 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, compared with this year's average of about 6.7 billion shares.
On the NYSE, advancing stocks beat declining ones by ratio of 3-to-1. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by a ratio of 2-to-1.
(Reporting By Angela Moon; additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
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Business Headlines: Super Bowl Ad Preview; Apple Dominates ...
Volkswagen?s ?Bark Side? Super Bowl ad (Photo courtesy: Volkswagen)
BOSTON (CBS) ? Volkswagen is trying to get a jump on the competition in the Super Bowl ad war.
They?ve already released a teaser trailer for their new spot called ?The Bark Side.?
It features dogs singing Darth Vader?s theme from Star Wars.
It already has 8-million hits on YouTube.
Last year, Volkswagen had a major hit with their ?little Darth Vader? commercial.
With ads going for $3.5 million for a 30-second spot, advertisers are looking to make the most of every dollar.
And ad execs tell me showing off ads before the big game actually makes people more receptive to them when they finally see them.
2011 HOME SALES
The final numbers are in and home sales in Massachusetts last year hit their lowest levels since 1990.
They come despite low interest rates and home prices that dropped 3-percent for the year.
Still, real estate trackers say it could have been worse, and given the improving jobs picture, we could start to see a slow and steady recovery.
APPLE DOMINATES
No slowdown for Apple though.
They have more than doubled their profits for their first quarter.
Apple sold more than 37-million iPhones and nearly 15 million iPads.
It?s the first earnings report since the death of Steve Jobs and it looks like the company has transitioned pretty well.
Watch Lisa?s report:
Lisa van der Pool of the?Boston Business Journal?can be seen weekdays at 6 a.m. on WBZ-TV.
You can follow Lisa on Twitter at?@lvanderpool.
Source: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/25/business-headlines-super-bowl-ad-preview-apple-dominates/
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Are the Next Great Windows Phones Landing March 18th? [Rumors]
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